President Xi congratulates new Japanese PM Ishiba

President Xi Jinping has extended congratulations to Shigeru Ishiba on his election as Japanese prime minister.

Ishiba, the new leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was officially elected as the country's prime minister on Tuesday after he won a majority of votes in both houses of parliament.

In a congratulatory message sent on Tuesday, Xi noted that China and Japan are close neighbors separated only by a strip of water. He said it serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples to stride on a path of peaceful coexistence, everlasting friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development.